Day 0: Before the Trip: International Travel and Risk-Taking

@hanstullmann Join us on our trip to Switzerland! Day 0: Before the Trip: International Travel and Risk-Taking Summer 2022 https://bit.ly/Day0BeforetheTrip #TullmannTravels #Switzerland2023Tullmann ♬ How You Like That - BLACKPINK

Summer 2022

Exploring the world is exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. Last Summer our family took a risk and our first international trip since our son was born and in the wake of the Pandemic. We weren't sure how our 5-year-old would handle an 11-hour flight.  Little did we know about his tenacity and enthusiasm for traveling abroad... and the effect of watching in-flight entertainment.  It was our son's first flight and time leaving the country.  

The vacation was a fantastic trip to Europe to visit family and friends. We spent two weeks in Romania, visiting family and going to the Black Sea and Bulgaria.  Vienna, Austria was the last week's destination, where we stayed with friends.  We also spent time in the place my father's side of the family originated from Mariasdorf, Austria.  We visited distant family and also took a day trip to Hungary.  The risky trip ended up being safe and loving with family and friends who took great care of us.

Our returning flight had a 4-hour layover in Warsaw, Poland.  Now, we could have played it safe and stayed bored at the airport for 4 hours... but risk-taking and adventure were still coursing through our veins... or, my veins.  Alina did need some gentle persuading and prodding.  So, after negotiations, we stowed our luggage and made a quick trip to Old Town to experience Poland for the first time.  We risked missing our flight for the adventure of a lifetime.  We made it back with over an hour to spare.  

Travel.

Exhilarating. 

Terrifying.

The Past

For our next adventure, we're going to visit a place that is very dear to my hiking heart.  This is a place that many of us have only seen in photographs or fairytales.  For Alina and I, we'll be revisiting a memory from a time long ago.  

For myself, it's been a decade since I first experienced the exhilaration and beauty of this county.  In 2013, my dad and I took a risk and hiked in trails from France to Italy and Switzerland, then from Germany to Austria, and back to Italy, trekking a total distance of 152 miles/244km in 34 days.  This journey can be found chronicled in the "Hiking the Alps 2013 Blog". Ever since that amazing, terrifying, and life-changing trek, in my mind, I keep wanting to go back again...and again.  

So, we returned again in 2016 and brought my mom with us. "Hiking the Alps 2016 Blog," tells our Tullmann Trio hike on the TMB (Tour Du Mont Blanc), a 110-mile trek around Western Europe's highest mountain and then part of the Alpine Pass Route. Unfortunately, my trip was cut short due to a little event we like to call, "preterm labor".

Returning to these trails and mountains brings out a sense of adventure, challenge, pain, and growth.  This feeling of longing is expressed in the words of American naturalist and environmental philosopher, John Muir:

The mountains are calling and I must go.

The Present

Photo by Rich Martello on Unsplash

Tomorrow, Saturday, July 1, 2023, we will begin our next adventure.  Alina, Jonas, and I will be flying to Switzerland to travel for 21 days.  During our trip, we'll be visiting the Murren, Zermatt, St. Moritz, and Zurich in Switzerland.  We'll also take a detour to Chamonix France and Courmayeur, Italy.  Instead of visiting friends and family, we'll be on our own, using public transportation, staying in Airbnb homes, and facing the exhilarations and challenges as a family. 

Hans' Carry-on luggage, inspired by Alpins in the Alps

My prayer is that God will use this trip to show us his beautiful creation, help us grow closer as a family, and make memories together.  

Here's to the risk-takers.